John Martyn

I was just thinking the other day, 

I'd love to see John Martyn play live. 

He lives in Kilkenny, perhaps he plays around there.

Or rather he lived there. Very sadly, the great man passed away earlier today aged only 60.

I pretended that I thought I'd met him in a pub in Galway a few months ago. I wrote about it here. But it was only an impostor who did nothing to disabuse me. Or I him.

I did actually meet him in the Lake District nearly twenty years ago. We chatted for a while and he was erudite, urbane, pissed and had a distinct air of sadness about him. And I never saw anyone drink quite like that before or since. 

The last I saw of him that night he was heading to his hotel to get his guitar. He promised to come back and play us a few tunes. 

Of course, he never did. He was way too pissed. But, still, he didn't want to say no to us.